History In The Present
Just prior to the initial formation of the ICC team Tommy and Sebastian decided to cut contact as their schedules did not give them any chance to see each other. They had met three years earlier when their cases ended up overlapping and Sebastian came to Ireland, somehow they just clicked and things progressed quickly. By the time Sebastian left a week and a half after his arrival, they were both eager for the next time they got to see each other.
In the two and a half years of their relationship they learnt each other's deepest secrets and turned to each other when they needed to. But no one at the ICC knew, or would know, about the night that Tommy's daughter phoned Sebastian in a panic after a Traveller had tried to gain an easy ten thousand pounds and put a bomb underneath Tommy's car. Nor would they know about the time that Sebastian went radio silent and then turned up a week later at Tommy's front door looking as though he had been ran over by a lorry. No, their past was just that, the past and that was where it would stay.
But when they saw each other for the first time, in person, in nearly a year, all the emotions they said they no longer felt began to boil up and over. When they had been together their relationship had been passionate and burning, but towards the end they had started to deny that. It took everything they had not to fall back into old habits when they saw each other. With the jobs they did, the risks of not making it home, whenever they saw each other they had always felt the need to touch each other to make sure they were really there. But in front of witnesses they could not even consider it, it was too risky to tell the others about their previous relationship as they both knew that police officers could react wrongly due to their relationship and the homophobia that still existed within the police forces.
Surprisingly in the first few days that they were working together, before the Major left to get Hickman, Sebastian and Tommy only slipped up once, and it was easily covered. Tommy and Sienna had been going through case files when Tommy's phone had began to ring with the ringtone that was specific to one caller; his daughter, Saoirse. Naturally, at least in Sebastian's opinion it was natural, Tommy answered the phone and instantly began to speak in Gaelic as he walked away.
When Tommy returned ten minutes later he was just ending the phone call with his daughter, his words returning to English instead of Gaelic; "Phone me when you get out front. I love you." His voice was soft but you could hear the worry underlying in his tone as he ended his phone call with Saoirse. It was something Sebastian had only ever heard directed towards himself or Saoirse when something serious was happening that could be dangerous for them or they had already been hurt by.
"How is Essie?" Sebastian asked Tommy as the Irishman moved to pick up his hold-all. The German hadn't thought of the repercussions of questioning Tommy on his daughter, even if he and Tommy were no longer together, he still cared about the Irish Traveller and Saoirse. However afterwards he wished he had thought of what the rest of the team might say when Tommy answered.
"Bloody wankers!" Despite the fact that Tommy had hissed the two words out, everyone in the room could tell he was beyond his usual level of anger. "We have a code. No women or children. No drugs…" He continued to mutter as he rummaged through his bag, it was clear that he was searching for something in particular but no one wanted to ask him what it was. "Don't mind 'em coming after me, but to go after…" He continued to rank quietly under his breath as he finally found what he was looking for - a hoodie that was definitely too small for himself.
As though they had all discussed it, everyone just left Tommy on his own as they seemed to have realised that the Irishman was beyond his normal level of anger. Although it appeared that no one truly knew each other, or even enough to judge them, Tommy McConnel's anger management issues were apparent for them all to see. His temper could flare within a matter of moments, but he also had a good sense of humour the majority of the time.
"McConnel, is everything okay?" The question came from Anne-Marie but all Sebastian could think was that it was a bad idea to ask Tommy any questions because of just how pissed off he was.
"I've got to speak to someone, it shouldn't take long," he commented as he pulled his jacket on and picked up the hoodie along with his phone. The only thing that was truly of concern to him was making sure that his daughter was okay after she crossed paths with a group of travellers looking to get their payday for the hit on his head.
Saoirse McConnel held her hand applying pressure to large cut that ran across her face from her cheekbone through her eyebrow to her headline. Tears were running down her cheeks as she shook with the shock of what had happened as she had never expected that in the Netherlands she would cross paths with someone who was after her dad for the £10,000 hit. Currently she was making her way to the ICC to find her dad as blood stained her ripped hoodie.
She and her dad had barely been in The Hague for a week and already someone had decided to try their luck for an easy £10,000. At times Saoirse still found it difficult to believe that her grandfather was willing to pay someone £10,000 if they killed her father, his own son.
"Jelly Bean," her father's voice appear behind her causing the young girl to spin around and wrap her arms around him tightly. The blood was still coming from the cut and was staining Tommy's shirt but neither father nor daughter cared. "Let's get that taken care of," he spoke softly, a complete contrast to his tone when he had ended the phone call with Saoirse before he led her over to a low wall just outside of the International Criminal Court.
"Daidí, I'm sorry," Saoirse whispered as Tommy began to clean the cut, preparing to put the butterfly stitches onto it. "I should've been more careful," she expanded but her dad just shook his head.
"Saoirse, it was not your fault at all, you did nothing wrong," he promised as he focused on closing the cut. "Now do you want to go home, or would you like to wait at my desk until I'm finished?" He offered the thirteen year old, despite the fact that he already knew the answer would be for Saoirse to go home.
"I'm gonna go home. Tell Sebastian that I say hi," Saoirse finally answered ten minutes later after Tommy had finished closing and cleaning all the cuts the covered the young girl. "Is breá liom tú Daidí," she stated before she stood up placing a kiss on his cheek.
"Is breá liom an iomarca, Saoirse," he whispered into her hair before allowing her to leave for home. He watched her until she was as far out of sight that she was not even a shadow. He knew that she would be scared for a few days but they had been through much worse.
But days like today when he faced the horror that was his family, he missed the bond he previously had with Sebastian. Despite that, he knew that he could not go back or let the team know because it would just end once again.